Certain hazardous wastes and wastewater generated by the petroleum industry (KO48, KO49, KO51, FO37 and FO38) are emulsified mixtures of solids, water and oil that are extremely difficult to treat, transport, and dispose of. These wastes, in their original state, cannot be directly used as a fuel without considerable dewatering, nor can they be feasiblely transported in conventional liquids tankers due to their high solids content. Costs associated with dewatering, transporting, and disposing of these wastes are very burdensome to the petroleum refining industry. Currently, refineries and petrochemical plants are using filter presses, high speed centrifuges, and thermal desorption to process these wastes and waste waters. These currently used processes involve substantial capital investments along with exorbitant operating costs. More importantly, they generate a waste material that is classified as a hazardous waste and must be incinerated and/or land filled with a significant cost and continued liability. Fiscal costs and future liabilities associated with dewatering, transporting, and disposing of these wastes are very burdensome to the petroleum and petrochemical industries.
An apparatus and process of filtration is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,520. The apparatus in the aforementioned patent is a converted tanker truck in which fixed tanks are used to process and transport the processed mixtures. The tanks are fixed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,520 and they cannot be removed from the tanker truck, and the processed material has to be removed from the tanker in order for the tanker to process and transport more material.